"It's difficult to express…" KKR captain Shreyas Iyer opens up on winning IPL 2024

Shreyas Iyer became the second KKR captain to win the IPL title after Gautam Gambhir.

Shreyas Iyer, the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), was beaming with glory as his team defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eight wickets in a one-sided Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 final on May 26, Sunday in Chennai.

SRH had an extremely poor outing on the big day after captain Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bat first.

Abhishek Sharma (2) and Travis Head (0) fell in the opening two overs. After Rahul Tripathi fell for 9 during the powerplay, SRH was 41/3 after six overs.

The intermediate and lower order provided minimal resistance. Shahbaz Ahmed (8) and Abdul Samad (4) were unable to support Heinrich Klaasen, who scored 16 runs. Pat Cummins led the Hyderabad side in scoring with 24 runs, including two fours and one six, while Aiden Markram added 20 runs and three fours.

SRH ended with 113 runs, the lowest score by a side batting first in an IPL final. Andre Russell led the way for the Kolkata Knight Riders with 3/19, while Mitchell Starc and Harshit Rana each took two wickets.

We played like Invincibles throughout the season: Shreyas Iyer

In reply, Pat Cummins dismissed Sunil Narine for 6 runs, Rahmanullah Gurbaz with 39 runs with 5 fours and 2 sixes and Venkatesh Iyer (52* with 4 fours and 3 sixes) took KKR to the target with 8 wickets in hand and 57 balls to spare.

It was a dominating win for KKR as they became three-time champions, moving away from the rest of the pack. Captain Shreyas Iyer was beaming with pride and joy as he came up to collect the winner’s cheque of INR 20 crores.

In the post-match presentation, Shreyas Iyer said: “Absolutely comprehensive. This is what we demanded from the team and every individual. They stood up to the right occasion and the feeling is hard to express. It (wait) was so long, longer than the match. We played like invincibles throughout the season. There’s so much to cherish right now. It is pleasing, the performance has been flawless throughout. I am running out of words right now. We have been tremendous from game one, we stepped up today. All we demanded from ourselves was to back each other whatever the situation is. The game could have either way. They have been playing phenomenal cricket – SRH – throughout the season. We were lucky to bowl first and every situation went in our favour. Thanks to SRH the way they played. Looking forward to play more competitive cricket.”

He was also praiseful of Mitchell Starc, the most expensive player in IPL history, who won the Player of the Match award for his two wickets early on in the SRH innings.

“That’s when all the big players stand up, right! It was a high-pressure game and he’s been so good off the field. He’s never shown any complacency in his work ethic. He stepped up to the right occasion,” Iyer added.

Furthermore, Iyer said: “He’s got that magic wand (on Russell), he’s looking forward to pick wickets. When I look at him, I know he can look at him. All the guys stepped up at the right time. Made it easier. It has been a flawless season.”

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